If it's not to your liking, reject it again, and again till the problems are resolved.
Each time you reject it complain to the insurance company, and I would try to get them to by the car off you at the going rate (private sale)
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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Have just rejected the car again!
Not only does the scratch on the bonnet look like they've repaired it with a kids paintbrush, they've managed to scratch the door now too!
Have complained to the insurance company again, and sent an email detailing every little fault and how unhappy I am to the insurance company and to the repairer. I've suggested that if they don't think the current garage are up to the job, they let someone else finish it before they do any more damage.
What else can I do?
(Hugo, I love your little quote thing)
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PG, thank you for not naming and shaming here.
However if this bodyshop are a member of VBRA (Vehicle Builders & Repairers Association) then I would name and shame them to them.
www.vbra.co.uk/
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Thanks Dave... have just checked and it appears that they are not a member.
So much for insurance approved places being the best... hmph.
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I was in a similar situation last year after being bumped up the back. The repair was not to the required standard.
I went to an independant assessor, who charged £55 for what was a damning report and rectification work estimate.
After a few more weeks of wrangling (at the end of nine months) I got the £900 to have the work done elsewhere.
In your complaints, make sure you make the insurer aware you have given ample oppurtunity to make good.
Make sure you are put in the position you were in before the incident.
Keep it up, you know you're right, they are just banking on you giving in first.
There seems to have been a recent plummet in the quality of accident repairs, It seems to happen every time someone I know has a crash/theft.
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I am reading this thread with some interest and trepidation. Both our cars have front-end damage at the moment, one in the bodyshop as I type and the other due in next Tuesday. I'm not sure whether I am looking forward to collecting them or not! Occasionally I enjoy a good argument!!
I feel I should point out that I was not in either car at the times they were damaged.
Good luck Pologirl,
Andy
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A chap I worked with a few years ago had a bodywork repair carried out on his car, paid for by his insurance company.
When the car was repaired and returned to him the repair was unsatisfactory. On speaking about the problem to his daughter, who is a solicitor, she advised him to obtain an independent assessment of the repair from the AA. He checked this out with the insurance company and their response was, so long as the AA found the repair to be unsatisfactory, they would pay the cost of the inspection as part of the claim.
The car was subsequently inspected and, surprise, surprise, the repair was judged to be poor. On conveying this information to his insurance company, my friend was told they would immediately arrange for the car to be collected and taken to a different repairer for the repairs to be carried out correctly and to his full satisfaction.
This time they were!
The moral of the story is that it is most important to obtain independent eveidence in the form of an inspecton report when faced with a problem like this. I think an insurance company will sit up and take more notice of a report from an independent organisation, then the word of an individual, no matter how justified your case might be.
Good Luck!
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Had a similar situation a few years ago. Had the vehicle inspected by a main dealer body shop. Insurance company agreed to remedial repairs subject to independent assesor. This guy told me that preferred garages worked down to a price and not up to a standard. Indeed the garage that did my original repair was the subject of many complaints,even though my then insurance company had their own assesor permanently based there.
You do not have to use the garage recommended by the insurance company, you can choose your own.
Alyn Beattie
I'm sane, it's the rest of the world that's mad.
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"You do not have to use the garage recommended by the insurance company, you can choose your own."
I think when I tried to do this, they said that I couldn't have the courtesy car...
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>>I think when I tried to do this, they said that I couldn't have the courtesy car...>>
Smokie: But Pologirl's case is one where the other party has allegedly/apparently accepted full liability. So she is fully entitled to be put back in the position she was in prior to the accident. That includes reaasonable alternative transport. Think back to SteveH42's accident saga and you may recall that he was chased for, and he paid for the other party's costs, including taxi fares [for "rear-ending" the "lady" from his work].
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Yes eMBe I guess so. With hindsight, I didn't know as much then as I know now, so maybe I would have put my foot down (my accident was a rear ending too).
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Andy & PoloGirl - if either of you (or anyone else) is anywhere near Widnes I can recommend a place where I recently had a good repair done.
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The girl's got spirit. Keep putting your high heeled boot in. My experience has been that women get very poor service because the 'organisations' think that they will cave in, being timid by nature etc. One or two of my friends have got their father or mature male relative to deal with matters like this. The boyfriend of one of my nieces was given similar treatment by a garage until it was realised by them that my brother was an Inspector in the 'flying squad'. Things were very quickly dealt with after that
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I wish it was just because I'm female, but the truth is I've sat in their reception and listened to the complaints, and heard from friends whose cars have been to them and returned in a state. I do like to do these things myself, but in this situation, I don't think taking a bloke with me would make any difference.
I've got to say I thought after I sent the email yesterday they'd be clambering over themselves to get in touch and apologise. Maybe it's because I've got a marketing type background. Customer care and quality control doesn't seem to have reached the world of bodyshops yet!
I'm sick of it to be honest. The whiplash I had in March has come back (well, something related to it anyway), so I've had no sleep, am in pain and can't drive their stupid courtesy car anyway... but I'm holding it hostage until I get Polo back in a decent condition.
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Andy & PoloGirl - if either of you (or anyone else) is anywhere near Widnes I can recommend a place where I recently had a good repair done.
Thanks for the offer, but I am based in Kent, so a little too far to travel. I'll take my chances and kick up a stink if the job is not up to scratch.
Thanks
Andy
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Today's update!
Customer complaint advisor phoned late on Friday afternoon...
The bodyshop reckon that to put right the bodge on the side of the bonnet and the scratch that they've put on the driver's door, both panels will need tobe completely resprayed. They've estimated for this and the insurance need to approve it. Not sure why - surely it's the bodyshop that should meet the cost of their mistake? Am not really bothered either way as I wont be paying.
They reckon the scratch on the boot has polished out - I'll beleive that when I see it.
They tried to claim that the stained interior is down to "wear and tear"...yes, but their wear and their tear! They said there is nothing further they can do to remove the stains and went away to discuss compensation when I pointed out that it will be worth less dirty than clean. Any ideas what I should ask for?
...And I've still got the micra!
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PG
You will need to prove the interior was clean when it went in. Signed statement from BF, friend, family member should suffice.
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Don't suppose you have evidence of the state of the seats before you dropped off the car? I would insist on a full professional interior valet and see if that removes the staining. Otherwise find out the cost of replacing the seat material and ask for that amount but be prepared to accept 50-75% depending on the current wear and tear level of the interior pre accident. Alternatively get a decent valuation on what difference clean vs dirty seats will make when selling the car.
teabelly
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The staining isn't on the seats - if it were I'd probably be more forgiving as seats do get dirty. The stains are in the shape of greasy fingerprints on the light grey pillar where the drivers door frame meets the windscreen. Unfortunately it's fabric and not plastic, so has picked up all the dirt very easily.
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Insist its steam cleaned off.
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A friend of mine had problems with a repair to his car - list as long as your arm after it came back from the repairers: damaged elecrics and door seals, orange peel, and overspray. Not to mention 600 miles on the clock!
He complained and got a repair done at a different bodyshop near Worcester. If it is of any interest I'll get the name for you.
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Forgot to post this yesterday, it's becoming such a regular occurance!
Rejected the car again yesterday! Boot scratch is now gone, but instead of respraying the boot and drivers door as promised, they've just touched them up again, leaving them lumpy and amateur looking. The inside is still stained too.
They're going to respray and steam clean, and then we're talking compensation...
Question now is... how much compensation should I start the discussion with. We're looking at:
1.Being without my own car for over 2 months.
2.Them adding two scratches, and not repairing them to a satisfactory standard.
3.Decrease in the value of the car due to stained interior.
4.Inconvenience (and extra fuel costs) and humiliation (can I claim that?!) of having to drive a one litre micra for two months.
5. Phonecalls and back and forth to Walsall, and time waiting in for the driver for five rejections.
6. General crap customer service - not once has anyone said sorry!!
I guess the only positive is that I've now done about 1500 miles in their cars, and not racked up Polo's mileage!
I have no idea what to ask for so would appreciate some opinions.
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Sorry...that should be the bonnet they're respraying, not the boot!
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Sorry... Just thought to add this morning that it's the repair network and bodyshop that have brought up compensation, so it's not as if I've gone steaming in there demanding it. That's not to say I wouldn't have done that!
Still clueless as to what figure to suggest though - can't really see it being very much.
Thanks!
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Well for a start add up your real costs i.e. petrol, telephone calls. Then make an estimate of your time at very reasonable rate at say £5 an hour. You could argue that you've lost time that you could have spent doing money saving things for yourself like decorating, gardening, cleaning your own windows etc. If you have real examples where the time lost has cost you money better still.
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PoloGirl:
The first rule of negotiation is "let the other person start first". Ask the Person-with-authority to name the figure they think is reasonable. (Do not deal with someone who says "I have to get final authority from someone higher up). If the figure they propose is near what you consider acceptable, take it. If not, then negotiatiate until you reach an acceptable compromise. As long as you are not rying to profit from it; remain firm, be polite, be assertive - and settle for the right amount.
Remember also that any shortfall is still recoverable (in theory) from the driver who put you through all this trouble. Nothing to do with your insurance company, or your repair gargae, or his insurance company. Your claim is on the other driver.
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They've been a right pain, so even if the figure they first mentions seems ok, add 50% and say that's what you were thinking of and end up somewhere in the middle.
Oh, and insist on an apology, preferably in writing.
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Had to share this as I think it just about takes the biscuit...
Had to speak to the complaints advisor at the insurance company yesterday. When I brought up the issue of compensation she said..."Well they are respraying your bonnet and door as a gesture of goodwill, so I wouldn't get your hopes up about compensation".
Gesture of goodwill??? They scratched them!!!
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.. complaints advisor at the insurance company yesterday .. >>
Entirely the wrong person to speak to! Title is a misnomer and a giveaway as to relevance of the job.
Anyway, what did you tell her in reply?
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She's the ONLY person to speak to - she works for the repair network, approved by the insurance company.
Just pointed out oh so politely that gesture of goodwill is the wrong term, as they put the scratches in in the first place.
I'll just talk to the manager of the body shop when I pick the car up I think.
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Just an update as we haven't had one for a while and I know you're all still interested really!
They phoned last Monday and said the car was ready so off I went to collect it. They hadn't actually resprayed anything at all, just touched it in again. Interior still stained etc etc
They phoned again last Friday to say it was ready again, so I took Andy with me on Saturday morning (more to reassure me that I wasn't being picky than anything!). They had indeed resprayed the bonnet and door and the paintwork is as good as it's going to get I think. BUT....the door is wonky and you can get your fingers in the gap between the door and the panel. Rejection number six and home we came in the Micra again!
As an aside... can anyone tell me why it's ok for people to say on here that they've had problems with (for example) their SEAT or terrible customer service from a VW dealer, but I can't name this body shop? Surely a company name is a company name, regardless of it's size?
Thanks!
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This long boring saga is exactly why you should have taken the money and bought another car in the first place, as I think you were advised to do by the BR.
I would have thought that life is too short for all this messing about...
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.. as I think you were advised to do by the BR. ..>>
But that was on the assumption she would be offered a write-off and not a repair. That did not happen. However, as I said before, I would have dealt with the whole situation from the start by putting the responsibilty on the other driver (and his Insurer) at every stage. I would have kept my own insurance company out of it, except to merely keep them informed.
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Trust me MB it's even more long and boring when it's you it's happening to (you don't have to read it by the way!).
eMBe, yes, you live and learn! Ironically though, it would have gone to the same repairer as they use the same network.
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Keep at them! Don't give up. It sounds like your complaints and rejections are entirely justified and while they are providing you with another car you have no problems.
I am both very relieved and more than a little surprised to be able to report that the repairs to the fronts of both our cars were completely to my satisfaciton with good paint and panel finish.
Andy
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So was I, Andy S, but I pinned enough faith on my independent repairer's recommendation to expect things to be OK. However, being an eternal sceptic, I wait to find out whether the paint match is as good after 6 or 12 months ..
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can anyone tell me why . . . I can't name this body shop? :
Any chance of getting BBC Watchdog interested in this body shop ?
(we are all waiting to see how this saga eventually pans out)
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>their SEAT or terrible customer service from a VW dealer, but I
>can\'t name this body shop? Surely a company name is a company
>name, regardless of it\'s size?
You could search for an explanation elsewhere, this has been done to death.
However a quick explanation; it makes no difference what type of company you are talking about. The difference is essentially this....
1) My Vauxhall is rubbish
2) My Vauxhall dealer charged me x and only did y / did it wrong / whatever
nobody can sue us for the generic opinion in 1). Somebody could cause us trouble in 2). You may know its true, I do not. You may know its not malicious, I do not.
Consequently, no naming and shaming. Not ever. And every time we see it, we delete it.
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